Life

New Women's Standards Set in Kona

Mirinda Carfrae runs a new course record at the GoPro IRONMAN World Championship. Photo: Nils Nilsen

Mirinda Carfrae led the way as a group of women set new standards at the 2013 GoPro IRONMAN World Championship.

by Kevin Mackinnon

What better way to celebrate a 35th anniversary? As she scorched through the marathon course at the GoPro IRONMAN World Championship, Mirinda Carfrae set the tone for a new level of women’s racing in Kona. Behind her, seven women would set age group records. American Minda Dentler became the first woman handcyclist to officially finish the race. Great Britain’s Catherine Faux became the fastest age group athlete ever seen in Kona. Then, with just three minutes to spare before the midnight cut off, 78-year-old Harriet Anderson added another year to the record she already holds as the oldest female finisher ever in Kona.

Carfrae’s record run

Mirinda Carfrae's new course record (8:52:14) broke Chrissie Wellington’s previous record by just under two minutes. (Wellington set the course record in 2009, beating Paula Newby-Fraser’s record which had stood since 1992.) Her blazing 2:50:38 run split (that’s an average of 6:30 minutes per mile) was faster than men’s champion Frederik Van Lierde’s time, the first time in history that the women’s champion ran faster than the men’s champion.

Carfrae’s impressive run puts her in some esteemed company. In 1990 Erin Baker ran an astonishing 2:49:53 split to win IRONMAN Canada, becoming the first woman on record to go faster than the men’s champion—Ray Browning ran 2:53:19 for the men’s win that day. Ironically, Baker’s husband, Scott Molina, ran the day’s fastest split (2:47:47).

In 2011, on her way to setting the world’s fastest IRONMAN time (8:33:57) in South Africa, Chrissie Wellington also bested the men’s champion in the marathon, running 20 seconds faster than Raynard Tissink.

One professional record from Kona that’s not likely to be touched any time soon is overall placing. This year Carfrae finished 32ndoverall, the same position Wellington achieved during her last Kona win in 2011. In 2009, Wellington was the 23rd athlete across the line. In 1988, though, Paula Newby-Fraser set the standard with an impressive 11th place overall finish.

Dentler’s handcycling first

Minda Dentler added her name to the IRONMAN history books with her 14:39:14 finish in Kona, becoming the first women’s handcyclist to complete the event. As a baby growing up in India, Dentler contracted polio, which left her legs paralyzed. She was adopted by an American family and moved to the United States and eventually started to participate in athletics as an adult. Dentler only just made the bike cut off by three minutes, but then wheeled her way through the marathon in just under four hours to set up her historic finish.

Age group record bonanza

There was a frenzy of record-breaking performances for both men and women in Kona last week as a total of 14 age group marks were set—seven each for the men and women. The women’s records were set by:

18-24: Samantha Morrison (USA): 9:38:26

25-29: Catherine Faux (GBR): 9:15:16

35-39: Stefanie Adam (BEL): 9:33:29

50-54: Christine Heidemann (GER): 10:19:37

55-59: Jeni Winegarner (USA): 10:33:10

60-64: Beverly Watson (CAN): 11:50:41

65-69: Cullen Goodyear (CAN): 12:57:17

Faux’s fast finish

On a day where women were shining, Catherine Faux’s performance was in a class of its own. The Brit didn’t just break the age group record, her 9:15:16 finishing time destroyed it by over 16 minutes. She won her age group by 33 minutes and her time would have placed her 10th in the women’s pro race. She is hands down the fastest women’s age grouper in Kona history.

Anderson’s new standard

Last year Harriet Anderson became the oldest woman to ever finish the GoPro IRONMAN World Championship—at 77 she was a year older than Sister Madonna Buder was in 2006. The fact that Anderson even made it to the finish line is amazing, let alone in time to set a new record. Anderson came off her bike during the latter stages of the ride and flew over a guardrail along the Queen K highway. Despite a few bruises, the 78-year-old got back on her bike and finished the course before the cut off time. She got to the finish line in 16:56:51, about three minutes quicker than she got there last year to improve her record by a year.